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Novikov made his debut on the Villa Carlos Paz-based round in 2008 but was in trouble from the start when a mechanical fault struck the Subaru Impreza he was driving and ultimately caused his retirement from the event before he’d been able to set any meaningful stage times.
He returns this year armed with an M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Fiesta RS WRC and a huge upturn in confidence following his maiden podium finish in the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia in Portugal earlier this month.
“I competed in Argentina in 2008, but we had problems off the start line which compromised our pace so this will be my first outing at maximum attack,” said the 21-year-old. “There is no question that this will be a very difficult rally and it will be a real challenge just to make it to the finish. Our confidence is on a high after our second place in Portugal so we’ll be looking to push in Argentina. The aim will be to make as few mistakes as possible to secure another top-five result.”
Novikov, who starred at the Rally Masters Show in his native Moscow prior to heading to Argentina, has also revealed his performance on the previous WRC round has earned him a new legion of followers, including Caterham Formula One driver and fellow Russian Vitaly Petrov.
“Our podium was very well received back home in Russia, everyone was very happy,” he said. “Lots of people came to meet me at the airport and we have had a lot of coverage in the newspapers, on television and on the radio too. Vitaly Petrov also sent me his congratulations - it has been a very nice couple of weeks.”





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